1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic camera that uses an image pickup part such as a CCD or the like to image a subject, and stores the image data on a recording medium. The present invention also relates to a camera that images a subject and captures the image thereof on a silver film. It should be noted that the term “camera”, if simply referred to herein, refers to both of an electronic camera and a camera that captures images on a silver film.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic camera, when its release button's being half-pressed, automatically decides exposure conditions (this operation will be referred to as “AE” hereinafter) and adjusts the focus by auto focusing (this operation will be referred to as “AF” hereinafter). Thereafter, with its release button being full-pressed the electronic camera shoots an image.
Upon the release button's being half-pressed, the exposure conditions are accurately decided by the AE processing, and accurate focus adjustment is made by the AF processing unless any object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) covers even a portion of an aperture of a lens part.
The electronic camera has a continuous shooting mode for continuous shooting and a movie imaging mode for movie imaging.
The electronic camera prepares for a flash emission when its release button is half-pressed and the brightness of the subject light is insufficient, or when its flash part has been set to emit a flash. Thereafter, the electronic camera, upon its release button's being full-pressed, emits a flash to shoot the subject.
The electronic camera has a function of automatically adjusting the sensitivity of its image pickup part such as a CCD in accordance with the brightness of a subject so as to shoot the subject even when the brightness of the subject is low.
The electronic camera also has a “through image” display function of displaying on the liquid crystal monitor the image of a subject which the image pickup part is presently imaging (the “through image” helps the camera operator check the image to be captured). The camera is also structured to enter into a power saving mode in which it standbys with minimum power consumption when it is powered on but not in operation for a predetermined period of time.
In a case where the setting of the exposure and the focus adjustment has been done with the release button half-pressed, and thereafter, even a portion of the lens aperture of the camera gets covered with some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) when the release button full-pressed, (i.e., so-called vignetting occurs), the camera of the prior art disadvantageously takes inappropriate pictures because it performs shooting with conditions (AE and AF processing) which are to be set when the release button half-pressed.
In addition, if even a portion of the lens aperture of the electronic camera gets covered with some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) while the electronic camera is shooting in a continuous shooting mode (if vignetting occurs), the electronic camera of the prior art disadvantageously continues to take inappropriate pictures thereafter.
Similarly, if even a portion of the lens aperture of the electronic camera gets covered with some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) while the electronic camera is shooting in a movie imaging mode (if vignetting occurs), the electronic camera of the prior art disadvantageously continues to take inappropriate movie images thereafter.
The electronic camera of the prior art as stated above prepares for a flash emission upon its release button half-pressed, when the brightness of the subject is insufficient, or when it has been set to flash light. In such a case, even if a portion of the aperture of the lens part of the camera is covered with by some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) (even if vignetting occurs), the flash part flashes light. At this moment, the object covering the light emitting part of the flash part limits the space which is to be affected by the flash emission. This may cause a deformation of a structure between the camera case and the light emitting part, for example, due to the heat. The heat may also result in shortening the life of the electronic camera, and may have an adverse effect on the human body.
Further, in the prior art if at least a portion of the aperture of the lens part of the electronic camera gets covered with some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) (if a vignetting occurs), the electronic camera automatically raises the sensitivity of the image pickup part up to be ready for the shooting, which results in producing inappropriate pictures.
Still further, it is disadvantageous that if at least a portion of the aperture of the lens part of the electronic camera gets covered with some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) with a “through image” displayed on the liquid crystal monitor (if a vignetting occurs), it continuously displays inappropriate images on the liquid crystal monitor thereafter. In such a case, there arises a problem that the larger the covered portion of the aperture is, the greater the amount of noise included in the displayed image is.
Moreover, the camera is structured to enter into a power saving mode in which it standbys with minimum power consumption when it is powered on but not in operation for a predetermined period of time, as stated above. However, if at least a portion of the aperture of the lens part of the camera gets covered with some object (e.g., a lens cap, a camera case or the like) (if a vignetting occurs), good images cannot be produced. This will lead to another problem of unnecessary power consumption because the electronic camera does not enter into the power saving mode until the predetermined period of time elapses.